Greeting Card Marketers and Retailers Struggle, While Consumers Purchase More Memory and Paper Expression Goods
For many consumers greeting cards are just not relevant to their lifestyles anymore

September 28, 2005 Stevens, PA — The stationery goods market, including greeting cards, social stationery, gift wrap and partyware, paper crafting and other stationery, reached $36 billion in 2004, up 6.3 percent over industry sales of $33.9 billion in 2002. While greeting cards account for the largest share of industry sales, or $10.3 billion in 2004, sales of greeting cards declined 3.9 percent from 2002, according to a new research study from Unity Marketing.

As a result of the decline in greeting card sales, growth in the stationery goods market is coming from increasing consumer demand for other memory and paper expression products, including gifting and party goods, such as gift wrap, ribbons and partyware, social and computer stationery and paper crafting supplies for scrapbooking and make-your-own cards.

Greeting cards offer little growth for marketers without new ideas

The greeting card market is mature, with little opportunity for significant growth. Nearly 80 percent of adult Americans bought a greeting card in the past year (78 percent) with the typical consumer purchasing an average of about 10 greeting cards in the past year, the research study revealed.

Commenting on the results of the new research, Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses — as well as the Classes, said, “Given these dynamics, it is virtually impossible for any marketer to figure out a way to sell more greeting cards to more people more often for more money under the existing greeting card marketing paradigm. “

“Even more challenging for existing greeting card marketers is that about half of the greeting card market today is turned off to the traditional idea of greeting cards. These consumers are ready, eager and willing to accept a new alternative,” Danziger continues.

A psychographic analysis of ‘why people buy’ greeting cards found that half of the total greeting card market buys greeting cards largely because that is what is expected of them. They are not motivated by any deep-seated desire to communicate through a carefully chosen greeting card, rather they are looking for an alternative to the greeting card routine. Greeting cards are just not connecting or relevant to many consumers’ lives as they once were.

Marketers battle increasing commoditization in greeting card market, all the while they exacerbate the problem through mass distribution and discount pricing

Even for those consumers who are more or less ‘into’ the traditional greeting card marketing paradigm, they are looking at cards more like commodities. One key factor is that more greeting cards, even those from the premium marketers like Hallmark and American Greetings, are readily available in mass channels, the number one shopping source for all categories of stationery goods in the Unity survey. As greeting cards become less differentiated and sold more like commodities, shoppers increasingly look for a card that will work for the specific occasion and is priced right. “When a shopper perceives virtually no meaningful difference between a $3.50 premium card and a 50 cent one, then they will inevitably go for the lowest price point,” Danziger says.

Consumer sensitivity to price point is growing in the greeting card market. More consumers view the price paid for the card and the wrapping paper as part of the overall price of a gift. So $5.00 extra for the card and wrapping extras adds to the overall perceived price of the gift. And many people today would rather put that extra $5 toward the gift itself and keep the extras to a bare minimum.

Consumer Insights on Greeting Card, Stationery, Gifting and Paper Goods and Paper Crafting Markets

Unity Marketing’s latest study of the greeting card, stationery, gift wrap and party goods and paper crafting markets includes findings from qualitative/focus group research among serious category users and a survey among a representative sample of 1,644 U.S. consumers focused on their purchases of stationery goods and the motivations that drove those purchase (i.e. why people buy).

The 160+ page research study includes research data and statistics about:

• Stationery Goods Market Size and Growth: What is the size of the overall stationery goods market, as well as the five key product segments (e.g. greeting cards, social stationery, gift wrap and party goods, paper crafting products and other stationery products) and how rapidly is it growing? How is the stationery goods market segmented by type of product?
  
• Demographics of the Stationery Goods Market: What are the demographic characteristics of people who buy stationery goods products? How is stationery goods buying behavior influenced by demographic segments (e.g., gender, age, HHI, size, composition, ethnicity/race, education, etc.)?
  
• Stationery Goods Buying Behavior: What are the primary characteristics of the consumers’ buying behavior related to stationery goods in general and the four product segments (e.g. greeting cards, social stationery, gift wrap and party goods, paper crafting products and other stationery products) in particular? Why do they buy these goods and how do consumers’ motivations different by product category segment? Where do they shop for the different types of stationery products; what factors influence their decision making; how much do they spend buying each of the stationery goods product segments and across the entire stationery goods category; what is the role of brand in stationery goods product selections and shopping choices? How do different demographic segments differ in their shopping and buying behavior?
  
• Psychographic Profile and Segmentation of the Greeting Card Markets: A psychographic profile of the greeting card buyers is developed in this report. The profiles identify four different types or personalities of consumers of greeting card. These profiles identify different drives and motivations found among consumers in purchasing greeting cards; what factors are more or less important in driving greeting card purchasing decisions; and how greeting card marketers and retailers can better understand the hearts and minds of their consumers. In essence, we reveal discover “why people buy greeting cards.”

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing
Pamela N. Danziger is a nationally recognized expert specializing in consumer insights for luxury marketers, whether they sell luxury to the masses or the ‘classes.’ She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992.

Advising such clients as Lenox, Cartier, Herend, Rémy Amerique, Interiors by Decorating Den, Sears, The World Gold Council, The Conference Board and American Express, Danziger taps consumer psychology to help clients navigate and master the changing luxury marketplace. Her latest book, Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses—as well as the Classes, (Dearborn Trade Publishing, $27, hardcover) is in book stores now. She is the author of the recent book, Why People Buy Things They Don't Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).

She has appeared on CNN’s In the Money, NBC’s Today Show, CNBC, CNN International, CNNfn, CBS News Sunday Morning, Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto, ABC News Now, NPR’s Marketplace and is frequently called upon by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, American Demographics, Women’s Wear Daily, Forbes, USA Today, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune for commentary and insight.

For media, Unity Marketing can make tables, charts and graphs available upon request.

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